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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Green Valley Book Fair

Labor Day weekend was a while ago, but I wanted to document a fun road trip we took to the Green Valley Book Fair. Ever since I met Jenny Kurtz all those years ago in AST when I moved to Richmond, I've been yearning to see this book fair. She went just about every time they were open, and would always come back with so many awesome books on the cheap! Awesome for book nerds like us!

I knew the book fair was up in the mountains somewhere, but didn't realize it is just 4 miles south of JMU, so of course we had to take a detour to drive through campus and hit up our favorite spots in Harrisonburg...oh wait, most of our favorite spots are closed. Good thing Tyler, who travels a lot for his mysterious and eponymous appraisal company, posted on Facebook a while back about a new burger joint in the 'Burg that served burgers with weird toppings. So before we headed out on our trip that morning I double-checked the name of the joint with him, Jack Brown's Beer and Burger Joint, and jotted down the address.

We could tell by the number of college kids sitting in the outdoor patio area how popular this joint is - it was around noon when we go there, so I knew I was in for some comfort/hangover food. I saw a burger with breakfasty toppings going to most of the college kids, so I couldn't wait to get in there and check out the menu. But first, the decor. Oh, the decor of this place.

They even have safety tips posted on the walls :)

I like the story of this place - 2 guys who have been friends since they were kids and always dreamed of opening a beer joint together. They collected all these beer cans from early on, and when they saw their dream become a reality, they used the beer cans to line the walls :)

All they do is beer, burgers, fries, and fried oreos. They did a ton of burger research and didn't want to be Jacks of all trades, masters of none, so they stuck to the basics. Brilliant.

Even the bathroom had cozy artwork - who am I to go against the dinosaur's recommendation to try the Elvis burger?

The Elvis has peanut butter on it. Yep, it sounds horribly gross and unnatural, but it's so weird that it sounds like it works. So I tried it - and it was fabulous! It added some sweetness to the burger and I loved it! Dave got a boring BBQ burger and we shared some sweet potato fries. And for dessert, a fried oreo.

tasty

Once our bellies were full, we took one lap through and around campus to see what had changed (pretty much nothing except the awesome stadium makeover) and then stopped at the University Outpost. It's weird to go in there because I'm so used to it being a steakhouse, but whatevs. I got an awesome new sticker for my car and Dave got a new t-shirt.

Once we got our JMU fill, we headed back down 81 to the book fair.

It did not disappoint - 2 or 3 warehouses full of books! It was like my Heaven! It was so well organized and even though it was the last weekend of the fair there was still plenty to choose from! I had an idea of which books I was looking for, but I should have dome some serious classics/fiction research before I went so I could have picked up some that I don't have. Without a list the fiction section was a little overwhelming. I enjoyed the history and comedy sections - that's where I picked up the 4 books I purchased, one of which I can't remember now:

And here's one I had to leave there, no matter how hard it hurt. <3 Bailey Salinger :)

Dave picked up some nerd books about math and SQL and stuff, and then we started the trip home! We took the scenic route through Bridgewater and Dayton to Staunton, and stopped for dinner at the Mill Street Grill. Bonnie, Ashley, and I ate there during a road trip one time, and I've wanted to take Dave there, and this was my opportunity!

Good day reminiscing, being nerds, and spending some time on the open road :) That's a perfect day for me <3